In this powerful
series, Gerald Epstein, MD, teaches simple, mental imagery techniques that
stimulate innate self-healing abilities. Dr. Epstein practices in New York City
and teaches psychiatry at New York's Mt. Sinai Medical Center. He is also
director of the American Institute for Mental Imagery, a post-graduate training
center for licensed mental health professionals.

Dr. Epstein explains that mental imagery is "the
natural language of the inner life." The words we hear, the thoughts we
think, the dreams we dream, even the emotions we feel translate into image. As
the inner life changes, external experience, including the physical body,
changes. The transformative power that lies within such images stuns even the
former skeptics among the discussion participants.

Dr. Epstein explains the difference between a true emergency
and a false emergency. A true emergency is an actual life threat in the
moment--i.e., a gun to the head. A false emergency is the projection into the
future of a threatening situation that doesn't actually exist and may never
exist. The body, however, doesn't realize that the scenario being played out in
the mind is not happening. The body is tied to the present, and it reacts as if
the emergency is real. Living in the future, pressing toward goals instead of
focusing on the journey itself, produces anxiety. Instead of goals, Epstein
encourages listeners to work with intention: "letting the universe know
what you need [in present time] without placing conditions or strategies on the
outcome."

Mental imagery, as taught by Dr. Epstein, does not involve
long visualization exercises or following scripts from a book. The technique he
uses takes only a few minutes each day. The Natural Laws of Self-Healing
includes imagery exercises for centering, getting rid of pain and anxiety,
transforming anger, letting go of negative habits, and healing physical
conditions. Dr. Epstein also describes basic principles that support health and
healing, such as becoming aware of one's thoughts, choosing to become present instead
of turning the mind to the past or future, and changing habitual behaviors and
false beliefs.